Caption: Chicxulub crater. Map showing the size and location of the Chicxulub impact crater, Mexico. The impact 65 million years ago may have helped to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs. The map covers the Gulf of Mexico, with the USA at top (green), Mexico at left and bottom (pink) and Cuba at right (red). The crater (purple) is at the top of the Yucatan Peninsula. Research published in 1995 showed the crater to be about 180 km across. Although at the small end of the range of previous estimates, the crater was produced by an event of awesome energy. The impact threw trillions of tons of dust into the atmosphere and may have altered the climate enough to kill off the dinosaurs.